Who We Are

Vanessa Gaydon

Vanessa Gaydon is a registered Educational Psychologist and Neuropsychologist who has worked in clinical private practice for 34 years, providing psychotherapy and conducting clinical and medico-legal psychoeducational and neuropsychological assessments. She provides training and supervision for psychologists in a number of settings and is on the executive committees of several associations. She is also an elected member of the Discovery Health Psychology Panel.

Darren Sweidan

Darren Sweidan is the Head of the Health Professional unit at Discovery Health. His undergraduate training was in clinical physiotherapy. Following training in business administration Darren joined the Netcare Hospital group in 1999. He spend 3 years in hospital administration and a further 2 years in group hospital finance. He entered the field of healthcare funding when he joined Discovery Health in 2004. Until the end of 2014 Darren was responsible, with the support of the Health Professional strategy team, for engagement with Medical Specialists, General Practitioners, Dental and Dental specialists’ as well as Allied and Therapeutic Professionals. Darren now heads the Health Professional unit with continued responsibly for engagement with medical professionals in addition to the Discovery Health Value Based Care, Professional Billing Intelligence, Health Quality and Auditing Risk Management units.

Cassi Rubin

Cassi-Lee Rubin is a neuroscientist and the Risk Specialist for Mental Health within Population Health Management at Discovery Health. Cassi has just completed her MSc (Med) in Neuroscience (cum laude) in the Division of Paediatric Neurosurgery at the University of Cape Town. Cassi has previously studied at University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Johannesburg, the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. Cassi’s background focuses on clinical and computational neuroscience, data-science, artificial intelligence, and mathematical and computational neurological processes. Her work experience is clinical, technical, and entrepreneurial beginning in 2017. Cassi leads the mental health strategy at Discovery Health through data-led and evidence-based thought leadership, with acknowledgement of the subjective experience behind mental health conditions and their unique manifestations. Throughout Cassi’s career she has set it as her personal goal to help ameliorate disorders that often affect the voiceless, to offer interventions that can better recovery and rehabilitation, and to answer the ‘so what’ neuroscience questions.

Jeromy Mostert

Jeromy Mostert is a Counseling Psychologist in private practice in Goodwood, Cape Town. After graduating and registering as a psychologist in 2001 Jeromy worked in the Correctional Services for 7 years, whereafter he went into private practice. At the time he had a medico- and psycholegal practice, doing both neuropsychological, risk and criminal profiling assessments.

Jeromy currently sees a variety of clients with disorders such as depression and bipolar disorders, anxiety, ADHD (mainly adults) personality disorders, eating disorders, OCD etc.

His treatment approaches are REBT and DBT. He was trained in REBT in 2017 by the Albert Ellis Institute. In 2018 Jeromy did 2 workshops with Dr Peter King from the Australian DBT Institute. In 2019 and 2020 Jeromy received training in Comprehensive DBT. Together with Karen Walton he has been co-facilitating both Adult and Adolescent Individual DBT and DBT behavioral skills groups. They have been co-facilitating groups since 2020 and have hosted workshops at psychiatric clinics such as Claro, Tijger and Bloemendal.

Samantha Young

I am a speech-language therapist and audiologist and have been in private practice for 8 years. I have recently become partner to the practice. Our practice offers specialised services within the field. I am an all rounder, working with paediatrics and adults in both areas of speech therapy and audiology. I enjoy it all. Although I am already a fur-mom to two hooligan dogs, in August, I will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of our newest family member, our sweet, little boy.

Naledi Mokoena

Naledi Mokoena is an Educational Psychologist who thrives in human connection and development. She works in private practice – specialising in work with children, young adults, and parents. Most recently, her work is focused is on neurodivergent presentations, identity, and trauma. Naledi is also a researcher, with a focus on understanding children living with autism spectrum disorder and how they are impacted by their environment.

Naledi Mokoena sits as an EXCO member of EPASSA (The Educational Psychology Association of South Africa). She has previously partaken in conferences as a speaker; and offered her knowledge to children’s television shows.

In her spare time, Naledi engaging in DMC’s (deep meaningful conversations) with close friends and family. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, she finds herself spending more of her free time hiking, engaging in expressive arts, or being a plant mom.

Thembelihle Mashigo

Gogo Thembelihle Mashigo is a Counselling Psychologist in private practice based in Sundowner and Rivonia, Johannesburg. She was trained at the University of Witwatersrand in Masters of Arts in Community-based Counselling Psychology and qualified in 2014. In 2016 she was trained at the Wits Centre of Diversity to design and facilitate diversity and inclusion programmes. She has also accepted her ancestral calling and initiated as a sangoma-spiritual healer in 2018.

She is a trainer, supervisor, lecturer, speaker, and writer in her multiple areas of expertise and interest. She has worked in schools, universities and with corporates. She has recently founded a group for psychologists who are sangomas/ spiritual healers to educate, support and supervise them in working with clients that have psycho-spiritual needs within the therapeutic space.

Sinovuyo Arosi

Sinovuyo is an Intern Educational Psychologist at the Ububele Educational and Psychotherapy Trust. She has worked within the Therapy and Assessment clinic supporting children and young people as well as their families. Sinovuyo completed her Psychology undergraduate studies at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK with Honours in Neuropsychology. She then attended Rhodes University where she did her Honours in Psychology. More recently, she completed her MEd in Educational Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand with a distinction in her research topic in cultural practices of school violence. Sinovuyo is a young professional who is passionate about public mental health, child development and inclusive education. She is driven to attain and nurture all necessary knowledge and skills to develop a career as an educational psychologist and researcher.

Lauren Snailham

I am a Clinical Psychologist in Durban, South Africa. I have been in private practice for 16 years. I work with children, teens, and adults. I’m passionate about being actively involved in empowering and healing, and so I focus on my therapeutic work in practice, as well as running workshops within the community on relevant topics and creating therapeutic resources that can be used in therapy, in homes and at schools. I have written 23 children’s therapeutic story books on a variety of important topics and have been privileged to have contributed to a few of Liana Lowensteins, Assessment and Therapeutic Intervention publications, as well as present at global Conferences. I’m a firm believer in the saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ and that if we all share our knowledge, are willing to learn from each other, and to work as a team within our communities, we will have a much healthier, stronger and psychologically stable world.

Karen Lynn Walton

I am Karen Walton, a HPCSA registered Neuropsychologist and Counselling Psychologist and one of the founders and directors of Walton and Polden Psychology, founder and director of Karen Walton Psychological Services as well as an Executive Board Member of DBT 4 Africa npc. I offer counselling to various populations and have specialized in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). My colleague and I run weekly DBT skills training groups for adults and adolescents. I also use a number of other therapeutic modalities such as CBT and Gestalt Therapy. My newest offering is Equine Assisted Psychotherapy which I am very passionate about. All of my therapy is aimed at assisting my clients to achieve their goals, live their lives with dignity, and to create the life they want.

Zanele Tlaka

Dr Tlaka is a paediatrician who has sub-specialised in paediatric critical care. She is currently practicing in the private sector in Pretoria. Her passion for children extends to her keen interest in early literacy. She is the author of two children’s books. She is the co-founder of Tlaka Media, a multimedia company geared towards creating wholesome content. She is also the co-founder of a scholarship non-profit company, called Mthombe Scholarship Foundation.

Angela Charalambous

I am the owner of The Workshop Reading Centre, with a MA(Linguistics) degree from the University of South Africa and lectured in the Speech and Hearing Department in the late 1980’s at the University of the Witwatersrand.

As a reading specialist, I established The Workshop Reading Centre in 2003 providing reading assessments, remedial intervention, and workshops to children of all ages who struggle with reading. I am a Master Licensee for the Cellfield reading intervention, having brought the groundbreaking treatment to South Africa from Australia in 2004. Cellfield interventions are offered in South Africa and Cyprus.

I have developed and presented workshops for parents, teachers, specialists, and scholars in topics related to reading including “Experiencing the Child with Learning Difficulties”, “The Multifaceted Nature of Reading”, “Developing Inferential Skills” etc.

“Experiencing the Child with Learning Difficulties” was developed in 2017, after trying to convey to specialists, teachers, and parents the frustrations experienced by children with challenges.

I believe strongly that assisting a child is a team effort, and liaise regularly with parents, teachers and specialists (where necessary) in order to best support the struggling learner. I am passionate about assisting children that struggle with reading, so that they can go on to experience academic success with confidence and a positive self-esteem.

in addition to working directly with children with barriers to learning, I have presented at conferences within South Africa and internationally to create awareness and support for struggling learners.

Anwynne Kern

I am a registered Educational Psychologist and psychology lecturer in the Department of Psychology, School of Human and Community Development (SHCD) at the University of the Witwatersrand. Prior to becoming part of the psychology community, I taught in primary schools where my passion for children and fostering ways to assist in their development was nurtured. When the opportunity arose, I completed my Bachelor of Education with Honours (B.Ed), Masters in Education (Educational Psychology) and Doctorate degrees (PhD). My teaching experience and interactions with children and parents gave rise to my research interests which centre on inclusion in education, for which I have received scholarships. I ran a private practice offering play therapy, parent-child therapy, and psychoeducational assessments before joining the Psychology department 2014. At present I co-ordinate the first year Psychology Programme, lecture the introductory psychology course for first years, and lecture and supervise on the Masters in Education (Educational Psychology) Programme.

Claire Tobin

Claire has been a registered Psychometrist for 9 years. She is currently employed as an operations manager and psychometrist at a non-profit organisation, Goldilocks and The Bear Foundation. At the Foundation she conducts psychometric assessments as well as manages the day-to-day operations of the NPO. She recently completed her postgraduate diploma in Leadership Development for NPOs through the Stellenbosch Business School.

Claire has always been passionate about helping those less fortunate and has been part of various NPOs. One of these NPOs dealt with youth at risk and street people, where she provided psychoeducation. Here she recognised the importance of early intervention as she saw how many of the youth had struggled and dropped out of school due to a lack of awareness and intervention in terms of mental health difficulties as well as learning difficulties. This ignited her passion to be part of helping children that are less fortunate get the early intervention they need.

Nicola Dawson

Dr Nicki Dawson is a registered Counselling Psychologist and the Research and Development Lead for the Ububele Educational and Psychotherapy Trust. She completed both her Masters in Community-Based Counselling Psychology and her Doctorate in Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her doctoral research investigated the intersection of sensitive responsiveness, culture and context. Nicki’s professional career has had a special focus on infant mental health. Prior to her appointment as the Research and Development lead, Nicki spent 7 years working as the Ububele Parent-Infant Manager, overseeing the implementation of various infant mental health interventions including the Ububele Home Visiting, Baby Mat, and NBO services. Nicki is appointed as a lecturer extraordinary at the University of Stellenbosch, on the Masters in Infant Mental Health course. She is also the secretary for the South African Association for Infant Mental Health.

Kate Armstrong

Educational Psychologist
MPhil (Infant Mental Health) Stellenbosch, M. Ed Psyche (Exeter), BSc Psyche (Honours) Unisa, HDE (Sec) UCT

I have been an Educational Psychologist in Cape Town for over 20 years. My therapeutic approach has been strongly influenced by social constructivism and narrative therapy. During this time, I have become increasingly aware of the importance of early intervention. A neuroscience training from 2015 to 2019 introduced me to the work of affective neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp. His studies shed insights into what babies’ developing brains require from their environment. Panksepp’s ideas of parenting from a neuroscience perspective shifted the focus of what babies need and the role of their parents. I felt this information was too important not share and started running ‘Brain Child’ workshops in 2018. These workshops aimed to teach neuroscience principles of parenting and child care in easy and accessible ways. My interest in supporting infants in the early years led me to register for Stellenbosch’s MPhil Infant Mental Health which I completed at the end of 2021.

Dr Tiaan Kirsten

Dr Tiaan (GJC) is registered as an educational psychologist with the HPCSA and is admitted as an attorney. He holds the BA, and BA Hons. degrees in Psychology, the M.Ed(Psyc) and PhD degrees Educational Psychology and a LLB degree in Law. He also holds a Higher Education Diploma (Postgraduate).

During his career, he has worked a teacher-counsellor at Port Natal High School in Durban, a lecturer at Durban College of Education and an academic for 20 years at the North-West University in Potchefstroom in educational psychology where he lectured Professional Ethics & Law; Psychopathology & Wellness; Theory & Practice of Counselling; and Psychometrics & Assessment. His research focus was on health promotion, and the prevalence, nature and impact of psychological violence on the health of teachers.

He has presented numerous papers at national and international conferences, has published a number of these papers. He has also successfully supervised 10 Masters and 6 Doctoral students. He was a past Chairperson of the Division for Educational Psychology of PsySSA. He served as a member of the executive of EPASSA, past chair of the Ethics Committee of EPASSA, was nominated by EPASSA and appointed by the HPCSA to serve on the Ethics Task Team of the Professional Board for Psychology. He has served on Committees of Inquiry of the HPCSA as an educational psychologist into professional misconduct of educational psychologists and as attorney into professional misconduct of other health professionals.

He is currently a practicing educational psychologist and attorney in Potchefstroom. As a psychologist he has a special interest in psycho-legal assessments and interventions with children, parents, families, schools and adults, mediation, and parenting coordination. As an attorney he mainly works in the areas of family, damages, and medical law. As such he also advises and assists psychologists on professional ethical and legal matters. He regularly lectures ethics and law to psychologists, counsellors, and social workers. He is a Level-II Court-Annexed Mediator.

He enjoys the art and practise of charcuterie, distilling brandy and gin and brewing beer.

Christie Els

Christie Els is a counselling psychologist with 30 years’ experience in private practice that include psycho-legal investigations in high-conflict divorce matters and reunification between parents and children where moderate to severe parental alienation is identified. She is a certified practitioner of the internationally renowned Family Bridges™ program and a member of the international Parental Alienation Study Group. In 2017, she attained expert status through the American National Association of Parental Alienation Specialists after completing an eleven-part course entitled, “Effective Litigation of Parental Alienation”. The course has been approved by the Florida Bar Council and the Health Professions Council of South Africa.

Anne-Marie Rencken-Wentzel

Anne-Marie Rencken-wentzel is a registered Counselling and Educational Psychologist. She obtained a BA Hons Psychology at the University of Pretoria and a Masters Degree in Psychology at the erstwhile Rand Afrikaans University, now University of Johannesburg. She completed both her internships in the above-mentioned registration categories at the Institute of Child and Adult Guidance Clinic, a multi-Professional environment, while also working at outside clinics. She obtained a Higher Educational Teaching Diploma at the Teacher’s Training College in Pretoria, and a Certificate in Child Law, also at UP. Anne-Marie found there was little opportunity with reference to formal study opportunities for psychologists in family law and Psycho-Legal work in the middle 80’s in South Africa. She embarked on informal study tours to the USA, Canada, and Israel where she literally studied from home-to-home and relied on the goodwill of professionals who accepted her will, and volunteerism, to bring her knowledge back to South Africa to colleagues, students and clients who did not have such opportunities and services.

Together with a co-mediator she formed CHILDS¬ Children in Legal Disputes. They not only delivered services at the Office of the Family Advocate but also at the Family Court in Johannesburg. Together they also created professional training opportunities in places such as Ennerdale, Tembisa and, for professionals from as far and wide as Limpopo, KZN, the Free State and the Northwest province. Some of these young people shared her home for lengthy periods during the times they learnt from her and are still in touch to this day. This however also created speaking and learning opportunities at world conferences across the globe.

Anne-Marie’s interest in working with children, and specifically with children in legal difficulties, led her to the PhD programme at the University of the Free State. After completing the first two years successfully she could not complete her studies as she was roped in to assist the SA Law Commission with children caught in legal disputes. Her recommendations led to the inclusions of Parenting Plans, Hearing the Voice of the Child, and Mediation, specifically including psychologists in the process.

Anne-Marie has through her life, been actively involved in organised psychology and mediation serving in various committees specifically looking out for practitioners and their interests as well as training opportunities for intern psychologists. Anne-Marie regards the pinnacle of her career the volunteer work she engaged in at the United Nations in Geneva as member of a Working Committee on Modern Slavery, highlighting the plight and struggles of children in South Africa who were in conflict with the law and legal system. Those children and parents who suffered as a result of little and no services available to them.

Currently, Anne-Marie lives in Cape Town having lived most of her life in Johannesburg where she established the first private multi-professional private practice on the West – Rand. This was long before multi-Professional practices became the order of the day. She now mentors young aspirant psycho-legal practitioners, visiting her children and grandchildren in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Dr Astrid Martalas

Astrid Martalas is an HPCSA registered counselling psychologist and has been in private practice since 2000. She obtained her PhD in post-divorce dispute resolution (available at www.pomegranate.org.za/PhD) at the university of Utrecht in the Netherlands. She has been appointed to complete contact and care assessments on more than 80 occasions. Astrid has attended international conferences where contact and care assessments have been discussed, e.g. the conferences organised by the International Centre for Family Law, Policy and Practice in London and AFCC conferences both in Australia and the USA.

Dr Martin Strous

Martin Strous holds the degrees BA, BA Hons, M.Ed, PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand and a post-masters diploma in integrative psychotherapy from the Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute. He is registered with the HPCSA as an educational psychologist and with the British Psychological Society as a chartered psychologist specialising in psychotherapy. He has lectured, supervised and mentored students at the University of the Witwatersrand, published journal articles, authored a book on cultural and racial sensitivity training, and served as an Associate Editor of the South African Journal of Psychology. His publications and presentations in the psycho-legal field include papers on relocation, contact, parenting coordination, parental alienation and ethics. He founded and is integrally involved with the Educational Psychology Association of South Africa. He is also a peer-elected member of the Discovery Health Psychology Panel. His private practice activities focus on psychotherapy, psycho-legal assessment, parenting coordination and critical reviews of psycho-legal reports.

Dr. Elzette Fritz

Dr. Elzette Fritz is an educational psychologist and psychotherapist in private practice at a private school in Johannesburg and supervisor in the Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty Education at the University of Johannesburg. Elzette is trained in: Hypnotherapy, Ego State Therapy, Expressive Arts Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, SOMA and Trauma and Tension Release Exercises (TRE). She is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on psychotherapy with children, referring to hypnosis, ego state therapy and expressive arts in therapy. Elzette is the co-director of the Milton H. Erickson Institute in South Africa (MEISA) and an international accredited Ego states therapist, supervisor and trainer. She was the coordinator for the Masters Educational Psychology Programme at the University of Johannesburg and supervises students and practitioners. She has presented numerous workshops on psychotherapy with children internationally and nationally.

Dr Doret Kirsten

I am a full-time private practitioner, registered at the HPCSA as a Clinical and Educational Psychologist -MA Clinical Psychology (NWU), MEd Educational Psychology (UJ) and PhD Psychology (NWU). I have 25 years of experience in tertiary training (North-West University) and 21 years of clinical work (Former Institute for Psychotherapy and Counselling and Witrand Hospital) and private practice set-ups (M-Care Hospital, Medi-Clinic, private practice). Tertiary training includes mainly: training and supervising Clinical and Counselling Psychologists in Neuropsychology and Evaluation and Adolescent Pathology and Therapy; training and supervising Honors Educational Psychology and Registered Counsellors in Psychopathology and Well-being, practical work and research supervision. I have presented academic papers at 12 international conferences and 14 national conferences. I have published 7 book chapters and 7 academic journal articles. I also have presented 22 CPD workshops to professional audiences and in hospitals. For the last 2 years I was also involved in presenting Board Exam training for interns for EPASSA. I also served on the following professional committees: Exco of Ethics committee SASPA (2015-2020), Exco of EPASSA (2015-2017), Exco of Comber Scientific Committee (2015-2020) and the Faculty Board (Faculty of Health Sciences NWU) and the Ethics and Research Committees (Faculty of Education NWU). I am a member of EPASSA and an associate member of SACNA.

Prof Ethelwynn L Stellenberg

Ethelwynn received her undergraduate education at the University of the Western Cape and most post-graduate qualifications at the University of Stellenbosch. She was employed at the University of Stellenbosch and has been appointed an emeritus associate professor in 2019. Currently she is still an active academic at the university, busy with project work, supervising masters and PhD students. Her focus areas in research are safe quality patient care, quality assurance, malpractice in nursing practice and risk management in health care. Her academic career extended over 25 years and she was most successful, showing tenacity, perseverance, commitment and passion to be a successful academic and leader of transformation.

Equally so she is passionate about nursing and has excelled as a clinical professional nurse both in practice and managerial positions. She was a ministerial appointment to serve on the Board of the Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC) for two terms and was a pioneer appointment of the first board in 2014. She was actively involved in writing the norms and standards
regulations for health institutions in South Africa and the procedural guidelines regulations for the OHSC. These regulations have been promulgated and implemented in February 2019.

• She is a Fellow of the Academy of Nursing of South Africa (FANSA)
• National Chairperson: South African Medico-Legal Association (SAMLA)
• Board member: Council for Health Accreditation of Southern Africa
• Chairperson: George and Annie Starck Homes for the Elderly
• Member of the Nursing Education Association (NEA)

Her philosophy is to help those in need.

Prof Ethelwynn L Stellenberg
Emeritus Associated Professor

Dr Herman J. Edeling

Dr Herman Edeling matriculated in 1969, obtained an M.B.,B.Ch. degree in 1975 and practiced as a general practitioner for 10 years. He qualified as a neurosurgeon in 1992 and spent the next 16 years in private general neurosurgical practice.

Since 2008 he has limited his practice to consulting and medico-legal neurosurgery. He has written more than 3700 medico-legal reports and has testified in more than 230 in court matters as an expert witness. He has co-authored three publications on serious injury determination and the narrative test in peer reviewed journals.

In 2009 he obtained the ABIME CIME qualification. He served as a member of the HPCSA Appeal Tribunals from 2012 and as chairperson from 2014 to 2016. He has served APRAV as chairperson of the Solutions Task Team Medical Committee.

He completed the UCT/MiM medical negligence and health sector mediation training in January 2016 and has mediated more than 40 medico-legal disputes. He believes in the capacity of the mediation process to resolve conflict by harnessing the power of constructive self-determination of the parties to the dispute.

He served the South African Medico Legal Association (SAMLA) as a director from 2005 to 2020, deputy chairperson from 2011 to 2016 and faculty course leader/principal from 2015 to 2020. As an honorary life member, he currently serves as the chairperson of the SAMLA-RAF mediation pilot project.

He has led the development of a series of pioneering university-partnered postgraduate training courses in medico-legal practice. He is most encouraged by the collective goodwill and commitment of leading experts and academics in the fields of law, medicine and related sciences, that have been cooperating to present postgraduate training in medico-legal practice.

He has contributed actively to constructive engagement between SAMLA, Mediation in Motion, Conflict Dynamics, Departments of Health, Medical Protection Society and other stakeholders in addressing the national medical negligence crisis by interventions to curb negligent harm, as well as by developing and promoting medical mediation and transformation.

He is passionate about medical science, ethical practice, the inter-relationships between law, medicine and related sciences, justice, transformation, education, and the promotion of mutual respect and understanding. He serves on the International Ethics Research Project of Dr W Moore, and is a Member of the International Society for Therapeutic Jurisprudence.

ELMARIE PRINSLOO (BA, HED, BA (Hons), B(Ed) Psych, M(Ed) Psych)

Elmarie Prinsloo completed her high school education in 1973 and then commenced and completed her tertiary training at the University of Pretoria, University of the North West and University of Johannesburg. She started her career as a High School Teacher and then continued her working career as an Educational Psychologist at the School of Achievement. She started her own private practice in 1996 and rendered psychological services to private clients and schools. In this regard, she was appointed as Educational Psychologist at Woodhill College whilst also managing her own private practice. She commenced psycho-educational legal assessments in 2006 and, due to the workload involved in this field, she discontinued her association with Woodhill College two years later. She is currently still functioning in her private practice conducting psycho-educational assessments for medico-legal and medical negligence purposes and provides counselling on an intermittent basis within the Educational Psychology sphere.

Dr Sharon Truter

Dr Sharon Truter is registered as a Neuropsychologist and Counselling Psychologist with the HPCSA. She completed her doctorate in the field of health psychology in 1996 and has been practising as a psychologist in private practice for over24 years, with the last 17 years being focused on neuropsychology. In 2005 she completed the Neuroanatomy course of the Master of Medicine (MMed) degree through Stellenbosch University and in the same year she was accepted as a Full SACNA member. In 2012 she started Neuropsychology SA, an organisation aimed at disseminating information about neuropsychology of relevance to South African practitioners. In 2014 she was made an Honorary Research Associate of Rhodes University. In 2019 she was awarded a fellowship by the British Neuropsychological Society (BNS) in conjunction with the Division of Neuropsychology of the British Psychological Society (DoN). In 2020, she was accepted onto the Register of Medico-Legal Practitioners of the South African Medico-Legal Association (SAMLA). She enjoys ongoing learning in neuropsychology and passing on that knowledge through training and supervision. Her research efforts have focused on collecting demographic-specific South African normative data on neuropsychological tests.

29 April
27 May
24 June
29 July
26 August
30 September
28 October
25 November

Seago Maapola

Educational Psychologist

Seago Maapola is an Educational Psychologist who has worked in diverse settings which have contributed extensively to her knowledge base. She is currently employed at St Mary’s DSG as an Educational Psychologist. Ms Maapola has previously worked at primary schools as well as at a special school in Pretoria. She had the opportunity to work closely with District and Head Office to facilitate the school placement process.
Seago previously worked as a consultant for psycho-legal practices, which sparked an interest into the effects of brain injuries on children and adults. She then enrolled and successfully completed the Foundational Course in Neuropsychology under the guidance of Prof. Truter. She was previously a member of the EPASSA Executive Committee and is still involved in the Education and Training Sub-committee.

Dr. Henry Lerm

Henry was admitted as an Attorney of the High Court in 1985. Henry has a wide range of experience both, in practice as well as the academia. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Nelson Mandela University and a Doctor in Law. Henry holds the degrees B. Proc, LLB, LLM and LLD (Univ. of Pretoria). The subject matter of the thesis for his Masters read: “Necrophilia: An Investigation into the Origin and Nature of the Crime in South African Law and Practice”. His thesis for his doctorate is titled ‘A Critical Analysis of Exclusionary Clauses in Medical Contracts’.

Henry was in private practice until 2003 when he joined Legal Aid South Africa in the capacity as Justice Centre Executive, where he served as Head of Office until his retirement in December 2018. He has since joined the staff at the Nelson Mandela University where he assists at the Nelson Mandela Law Clinic at the Missionvale campus in Port Elizabeth. He has also been utilized as a lecturer in various subjects inter alia Criminology, Private International Law and Legal Ethics.

Henry is a respected member of the legal fraternity in the Eastern Cape where he has served on various committees involving the legal profession, especially the functioning of the courts, access to justice etc. He is a former President of the Attorneys Association of the South Eastern Cape, Port Elizabeth. He has appeared in both the High Court and lower courts, including the Magistrate and Regional courts.

He has held membership of a number of esteemed organizations. Currently, he serves as the National Deputy Chairperson – Legal, of the South African Medico-Legal Association (“SAMLA”) and Henry serves as the Branch Chairperson for the Eastern Cape of SAMLA. Henry has been a member of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers in excess of 30 years.

His memberships of legal organizations include, functioning as a lecturer at the Practical Legal Training School, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University sine 1999 where he has taught a variety of subjects, including Procedural Law, Constitutional Law and High Court Practice. Henry was engaged by the Legal Education and Development department of the Law Society of South Africa in 2009 and has since tutored many practising attorneys around the country in the Law of Contract, Legal Writing for Litigation (acted as co-facilitator), Medical Law and Ethics; Advanced Medical Law; Legal Interpretation. He became the first attorney appointed by the Law Society of South Africa to reach out to the medical profession to teach Medical law and Ethics to the medical profession.

Henry has published articles in law journals including the following topics “The right to silence under siege”; “Two Heads Are Better than One”- Assessors In High Court Civil Cases “; “Expert Witnesses: Beware of the Hired Gun”; Exclusionary Clauses Revisited In The South African Context”; Fracking: An Energy Dream Come True or an Environmental Nightmare? Medico Legal Practice – Do we need a paradigm shift? He delivered papers at conferences including “Cross Examination How Powerful Thy Sword”; “Corruption – The Origin, Nature and Historical Development of the Crime in Perspective”; “The Impact of the Consumer Protection Act on the Medical Care Services”; “Minimizing the risk of Malpractice Litigation” and “Palliative Care as a Form of Relief for the Dying: A South African Perspective”.

Henry has over the years delivered a number of papers at conferences, seminars and workshops. Recently, he has taken part in a number of panel discussions involving COVID-19 related topics.

He has a passion for both Medical law and Constitutional law and has been involved in a number of constitutional impact matters concerning bail, contract law, housing and sanitation.

Dr. HSC Pieterse-Kruqer
I matriculated in 1984 in Springs, Gauteng. Thereafter l did my pre-and postgraduate studies at the University of the Free State. I worked as a General Practitioner in Vereeniging, Gauteng for 5 years before starting my speciality in Psychiatry. I started a private practice in Worcester, Western Cape and have been working for the past 15 years as a General Adult Psychiatrist. Special areas of interest are Adult ADD, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Dementia, Substance Use Disorders, Play therapy in adult Jungian Psycho-analytic therapy and Mindfulness therapy.

Ethical ICD-10 coding and billing: 1 March 2021
Presented by Marianne Nel

Overview of the session

Brief explanation of ICD-10 vs ICD-10-CM
DSM-5® and ICD-10
Medical necessity
ICD-10 Master Industry Table
ICD-10 rejections and how to submit compliant ICD-10 claims
Coding rules and conventions
Rules for Claims submission and Practice Management Application software
Coding in practice/Benefits of coding
The ethics and practicalities of coding

Joy Nel is a Psychologist in private practice, Fairland Johannesburg, South Africa. Joy has been in private practice for 13 years now. She is co-director of MEISA South Africa. She is also a part time lecturer at a number of universities nationally and internationally. Joy has been involved with training of other psychologists and educators for a number of years. Joy is also the headmistress of a small preschool for kids up to the age of 5 or up to grade 00. In her practice and in the school, the focus is on working with children to empower optimal development and learning, focusing on Emotional intelligence, Social intelligence and sensory aspects. She is currently studying her PHD in Strategic Therapies and anxiety in small children. She is involved in the training fellow psychologists in Narrative Therapy and Ego States therapy with children and focusing on the utilization of stories and metaphors and art in guiding children and adolescents to cope with issues such as Divorce, Bullying, Trauma, Abuse, Low self-esteem and Self-Injury to mention a few. Joy received her training in Ericksonian Psychotherapy and Hypnosis from the Milton. H Erickson Institute of South Africa (MEISA). Joy has presented workshops at International Congresses for Psychologists in Germany, Switzerland and South Africa. Joy has written a few articles and internationally published chapters on the utilization of an Ericksonian-Narrative approach in therapy. She is currently in the process of writing and publishing therapeutic children’s stories to assist children with anxiety, depression, divorce, emotional intelligence and Bullying.

Vanessa Gaydon is a registered Educational Psychologist (PS0027014) who has worked in clinical private practice for 31 years, and who conducts psychotherapy with children, adolescents, adults, couples and families. She also conducts clinical and medico-legal psychoeducational and neuropsychological assessments and consults in the corporate environment. She is a founding member of the Educational Psychology Association of South Africa (EPASSA) and immediate past chairperson. Vanessa has published a number of papers in international academic journals and is the author of “Race against the Ratios” published by the Institute of Race Relations. She is an elected member of the Discovery Health Psychology Panel. She provides pro-bono assessments for underprivileged children in need, and most recently she provided her services as a member of the consulting psychologists panel for the Life Esidimeni Arbitration Process.

Vanessa has been an executive committee member of EPASSA since its founding in November 2014. She served as Treasurer from 2014-2017 and as Chairperson until September 2020. During her tenure on the EPASSA exco Vanessa has worked extensively on Advocacy issues that challenge our profession. As chairperson Vanessa also made in her goal to establish structures and subcommittees within the organisation in order to create a manageable and sustainable association that addresses the various needs of the members. Under her chairmanship various sub-committees were established including the Advocacy, Administration and Financial, Community Outreach, Education and Training subcommittees. I her role as past chairperson Vanessa continues to be a dedicated member of the EPASSA exco.

Marianne Nel qualified as a registered nurse in 1997 and practiced as registered nurse at Triomf Medicross for 5 years. Marianne joined Discovery Health in 2003 as a Case manager. In 2005 she started doing clinical coding audits to support some of our hospital contracts. Marianne moved to In Hospital Risk management in 2008 where she did extensive clinical, coding and forensic audits. In 2010 Marianne decided to pursue her passion for coding and her work was split 50:50 between in hospital risk management and clinical coding. Marianne started a full time position in the Clinical Coding Unit in 2013. She currently oversees coding quality and offers coding support to our local and international businesses. Marianne has successfully completed local and international coding studies on diagnostic and procedural coding. Marianne is also involved in work taking place at the Private Healthcare Information Standards Committee (PHISC).

Vanessa Barnes

Chairperson and Chair of Advocacy

Landi Blok van Cronesteyn

Vice Chairperson / Treasurer

Martin Strous

Chair of Ethics en Advocacy Liaison Officer

Dedri Hamman

Chair of Education and Training Subcommittee

Matjhabedi Mazibuko

Chair Community Outreach Subcommittee

Palesa Tshitlo

Admin Assistant

Naledi Mokoena

Chair of Conferencing Subcommittee

Megan Brook-Sofianos

Committee Member

Dr Tania Holz

Committee Member

Frances Kaplan

Committee Member